2027 School Leadership Conference

Ross is the founding partner of EXPLO Elevate, leading its consulting team after making significant contributions at the independent schools he has served. He has worked with schools all over the country, as well as around the world.

Beginning his career with eight years as a middle and upper school English teacher at Providence Day School, he served in significant leadership roles at Asheville School, Hawken School, The Westminster Schools, and St. George’s Independent School. He serves, or has served, on the boards of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools (TAIS), and Bridges USA. He and his wife Katie also served as members of the Family Partners Council at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital.

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, Ross was a 13-year graduate of St. Christopher’s School. From there earned a BA in English at Sewanee: The University of the South, followed with an M.Ed from the University of Georgia. While he is deeply appreciative of the remarkable gift of education he received at every level, his best learning has resulted from being an educator working with students, whether as a classroom teacher or as a school leader.

Ross has long immersed himself in strategic and aligned school cultures. His achievements include founding the integrated humanities department, as well as serving as the first Faculty Chair of the honor system at Asheville School, and, as upper school head, creating an urban campus at both Hawken School and The Westminster Schools. As head of school at St. George’s Independent School, he mobilized that experience to help a younger school maintain the forward-thinking qualities that made it unique.

His belief in the value of independent schools is based on this idea: In order to create the education our students need and deserve, schools must mirror the qualities of great students. Thus, in order to deserve the investment we ask others to make, our learning curve should remain steep, and our dedication to the values we deem most important should be unwavering.

A widely published poet and photographer, Ross contributed the foreword and over 100 photographs for a book entitled, Sacred Views: St. Francis and the Sacro Monte di Orta (Punctum Press, May 2020).

Will Jarred
Vice President of Marketing, Communications, and Membership
National Association of Independent Schools

Will Jarred is the Vice President of Marketing, Communications, and Membership at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) where he leads brand strategy and the positioning of NAIS’s programs, services, and events. He oversees strategic communications, digital marketing, member recruitment, retention, and engagement, as well as the creation and distribution of content that connects school leaders with essential resources. 

A veteran education sector strategist, Will brings deep experience in brand management, strategic marketing communications, and media. His work spans pre-k-12, higher education, adult learning, and English language learning domestically and globally. He has led the launch and growth of products and services for educators and school leaders including digital curriculum, assessments, and professional development. 

Before joining NAIS, Will held senior leadership roles at a variety of public, private, and non-profit organizations including Teaching Strategies, the leader in early learning curriculum, teacher professional development, and assessments. Prior to that he was Senior Fellow of Communications at Digital Promise where he launched the Learner Variability Project. Earlier, as the Associate Executive Director of Marketing, Communications and Development for the National Association of Elementary School Principals, he led all aspects of the member experience, including membership services, publications, digital marketing, and strategic partnerships. Prior to NAESP, Will spent 17 years in educational publishing and assessment, working for global organizations including Cricket Media, Educational Testing Service, and Pearson. He began his career at AOL as a member of the original team that launched the AOL brand worldwide. 

Will holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from James Madison University. 

Jeff Shields, FASAE, CAE, has served as president and CEO of the National Business Officers Association (NBOA) since 2010. NBOA is the premier national association serving the needs of business officers and business operations staff at independent schools in areas including accounting, finance, tax, risk management, human resources, and facilities.  The association has grown from 23 founding member schools in 1998 to nearly 1,300 U.S. member schools, plus member schools in Mexico, Canada and 25 other countries around the globe during its history. Today, NBOA provides nearly 1,600 member schools, business partners, associations, and other organizations with a full range of live events, webinars, online courses, publications, web resources, original research, volunteer leadership opportunities, among other services to its growing membership.

Shields is a sought-after speaker delivering keynotes and educational sessions to numerous independent school and association audiences that include business officers and business operations staff, heads of school, trustees, and other school leaders on the state, regional, and national levels.

Prior to his current role, Shields was employed by the National Association of College and University Business Officers for 10 years. At the time of his departure, he served as the organization’s senior vice president and chief planning officer. He began his career in association management as the assistant director for leadership training at the National Association of Home Builders.

His current board service includes serving as a director for AMHIC, a healthcare consortium for educational associations in Washington, DC, as well as a trustee for E3n, a nonprofit providing enrollment and admissions support to independent schools. Previous board service includes serving as a director for the ASAE, as a director for One Schoolhouse, an innovative online school offering supplemental education to independent schools, and as trustee for Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC.

An active member of the American Society of Association Executives, Shields has been recognized as an ASAE Fellow (FASAE) and has earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation. He holds a BA from Shippensburg University and an MA from The Ohio State University.

He resides in DC and is the proud father of his 20-year-old daughter Samantha, who is a junior at Penn State.

Mattingly Messina is the founder of Throughline, a consultancy that puts relationships at the center of philanthropy.

His career spans development, strategic communications, and high-stakes negotiations. As a legal negotiator for Google, he built trust with counterparts across civil and regulatory jurisdictions, reinforcing his belief that relationships are the most durable currency in leadership and fundraising.

After moving into independent schools, Mattingly served as Director of Advancement at Bentley School before founding Throughline, where he helps organizations treat relationships as their greatest asset and design financial models that leverage them. Through his firm and alongside other client work, he also serves in a number of interim and fractional advancement leadership positions at independent schools.

Mattingly is a trustee of his alma mater, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, where he co-chairs the Advancement Committee. He lives in San Francisco and serves on the Programs Committee of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Golden Gate Chapter.

Scarlet Oak Consulting - Senior Consultant 
Driven by a commitment to social impact, Julia Riordan empowers independent schools to achieve sustainable growth through strategic, data-informed decision-making. Her foundation, built upon a Master's degree from the University of Chicago, provides a robust framework for leveraging data analytics and implementation science.

Julia recognizes that a strong business model is not merely a financial necessity, but a critical tool for amplifying mission impact and serving your community. By refining business and dues models through rigorous analysis, she helps institutions optimize revenue streams to ensure their long-term viability. 

Scarlet Oak Consulting - Operations & Project Manager 
Daniela is an operations and project manager with a deep grounding in positive psychology. At Scarlet Oak Consulting, she helps teams build the systems, structures, and clarity to make progress toward meaningful goals. The throughline in everything she does is a genuine focus on people and organizational culture through the lens of well-being. She believes that an effective process is an act of service, and that the best systems are the ones built around how people naturally work.  

Originally from Venezuela and based in California, Daniela brings a global perspective and cultural sensitivity to her work. She is endlessly curious about human flourishing, and finds meaning in helping organizations build not just plans, timelines, and dashboards, but the conditions for people to do their best work.

As Founder and Principal of Creative Independents, Thom specializes exclusively on the needs of non-profit organizations, including independent schools, colleges, faith-based communities and membership-based organizations. He is adept at responding to the financial realities and market challenges faced by these organizations. Thom has led and served at multiple independent schools  during his 30 years of service. He was Special Assistant for Strategic Initiatives from 2017-18 and Assistant Head for Operations/CFO at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School from 2001-2013, overseeing all financial non-academic operations of the school. Thom also served as COO and Assistant Head for Strategic Initiatives at the Ethel Walker School, Business Manager at the Dana Hall School, as well as a university and hospital administrator. 

Thom has served on the Boards of National Business Officer Association, Association of Independent School Admissions Officers, Thacher Montessori School and Summit Montessori School, and led the Insurance Cooperative ISCC, as its President from 2012-22.  He is an expert in independent school finances and operations and created the TABS and NBOA 10-Year Sustainable Financial Models, used by hundreds of independent schools.

Since 2021, Robert has served as a consultant with Creative Independents, specializing in financial operations, tuition elasticity analysis, and long-term financial modeling and forecasting for independent school projects nationwide.

Robert dedicated the latter half of his career to independent schools, holding the role of Chief Financial & Operating Officer at various day and boarding institutions with student populations ranging from 325 to 1,550. His independent school tenure began at St. Paul's School in Baltimore, where he spent seven years after transitioning from the high-tech industry. He was subsequently recruited to Asheville, NC, where he served Carolina Day School and Asheville School for nearly a decade. His final assignment before retirement was as CFOO for Charlotte Latin School in Charlotte, NC. Additionally, during his independent school career, he twice assumed the role of acting Head of School during leadership transitions.

In his capacity as CFOO, Robert managed diverse administrative units including the business office, facilities, technology, human resources, school store, athletics department, and auxiliary services. He spearheaded initiatives to enhance endowment management, refine annual budgeting and forecasting processes, establish cost-effective operations, transition tuition structures to a market-based strategy, and oversee numerous construction projects. Robert also contributed six years of service to the MISBO Board.